Caption; Senior Women Managers who attended the gathering to articulate their views
By Lwazi Raul-Shongwe and Kopano Dibakwane
Women empowerment and gender parity in the public sector are some of the crucial elements to be wholly embraced in order to secure an inclusive environment where all women can thrive, contribute and lead at every level.
This was pertinently emphasised during the Public Service Senior Women Management Week held at Manzana Forever Resort in Gert Sibande District on 26 & 27 August, in which the Head of Department(HOD) at Mpumalanga Department of Health, Dr Lukas Ndhlovu, led insightful and solution-driven discussions with women senior managers at the gathering.
The Department said, in a statement, that the focus for this year’s Public Service Senior Women Management Week was centered around 6 of the 8-Principle Action Plan for promoting Women Empowerment and Gender Equality.
These principles are said to emphasise capacity development for the advancement of women and the importance of robust monitoring as well as evaluation processes to ensure accountability, ownership, and effective reporting on gender equality progress within the public sector.
“ The Public Service Women Management Week remains a critical platform for HODs across government departments to engage with women senior managers and assess the progress made in implementing the 8-Principle Action Plan. Currently, women occupy just over 43.75% of senior positions in the Mpumalanga Department of Health, still below the legislative target of 50/50 gender parity at decision-making levels,” said the Department of Health.
The Department has conceded that while it has made commendable advances in employment equity and gender equality, more work still needs to be done. It furthermore stated that the journey towards true gender parity is ongoing.
